Key Stage 4 Computer Science

Computer Science students at St Mary’s will follow the OCR course at GCSE. This is a liner course, made up of 3 units.

Unit 1 - Computer systems

This component will introduce students to the Central Processing Unit (CPU), computer memory and storage, wired and wireless networks, network topologies, system security and system software. It is expected that students will become familiar with the impact of Computer Science in a global context through the study of the ethical, legal, cultural and environmental concerns associated with Computer Science. Students will draw on this underpinning content when completing the Programming Project component.

Topics studied:

Systems Architecture

Memory

Storage

Wired and wireless networks

Network topologies, protocols and layers

System security

System software

Ethical, legal, cultural and environmental concerns

40% of GCSE

80 marks

1 hour and 30 minutes

Written paper

Unit 2 - Computational thinking, algorithms and programming

This component incorporates and builds on the knowledge and understanding gained in unit 1, encouraging students to apply this knowledge and understanding using computational thinking. Students will be introduced to algorithms and programming, learning about programming techniques, how to produce robust programs, computational logic, translators and facilities of computing languages and data representation. Students will become familiar with computing related mathematics. Students will draw on this underpinning content when completing the Programming Project component.

Topics studied:

Algorithms

Programming techniques

Producing robust programs

Computational logic

Translators and facilities of languages

Data representation

40% of GCSE

80 marks

1 hour and 30 minutes

Written paper

Unit 3 - Programming project

Students will need to create suitable algorithms which will provide a solution to the problems identified in the task which is set by the board at the start of year 11. Students will then code their solutions in a suitable programming language. The solutions must be tested at each stage to ensure they solve the stated problem and students must use a suitable test plan with appropriate test data. The code must be suitably annotated to describe the process. Test results should be annotated to show how these relate to the code, the test plan and the original problem. Students will need to provide an evaluation of their solution based on the test evidence.

Cookies

Most websites you visit will use cookies in order to improve your user experience by enabling that website to 'remember' you, either for the duration of your visit (using a 'session cookie') or for repeat visits (using a 'persistent cookie').

Our Cookies

Cookies from this website are set using Google Analytics that allows for anonymous tracking of visiting paterns to the website. Allowing us to improve the content of our website.

Google Analytics sets the following cookies as described in the table below.

Name

Description

Expiration

__utma

This cookie is typically written to the browser upon the first visit to your site from that web browser. If the cookie has been deleted by the browser operator, and the browser subsequently visits your site, a new __utma cookie is written with a different unique ID. This cookie is used to determine unique visitors to your site and it is updated with each page view. Additionally, this cookie is provided with a unique ID that Google Analytics uses to ensure both the validity and accessibility of the cookie as an extra security measure.

2 years from set/update.

__utmb

This cookie is used to establish and continue a user session with your site. When a user views a page on your site, the Google Analytics code attempts to update this cookie. If it does not find the cookie, a new one is written and a new session is established. Each time a user visits a different page on your site, this cookie is updated to expire in 30 minutes, thus continuing a single session for as long as user activity continues within 30-minute intervals. This cookie expires when a user pauses on a page on your site for longer than 30 minutes. You can modify the default length of a user session with the _setSessionCookieTimeout() method.

30 minutes from set/update.

__utmz

This cookie stores the type of referral used by the visitor to reach your site, whether via a direct method, a referring link, a website search, or a campaign such as an ad or an email link. It is used to calculate search engine traffic, ad campaigns and page navigation within your own site. The cookie is updated with each page view to your site.